2010-11 Grades: The Wings

Keith Smart may be gone, but many of the Warriors’ problems still remain. The four players discussed below provide an interesting sample of the Warriors’ recurring problems — and one reason to hope for change. Three of the players are archetypal figures on mismatched Warriors’ rosters: a big that plays small; a small that tries to play big; and a sometimes scoring/never defending tweener. The fourth one is the Warriors’ most complete player, and the model for what they’ll need to do to upgrade their roster on the cheap.

As explained in the last grading post, I’m handing out two grades this year. The first will be an absolute grade, judging the player against the rest of the NBA. The second will be a curved grade, judging the player against expectations at the start of the season. The first grade should help gauge where the Warriors’ roster stands in comparison to the rest of the league. The second grade gives a sense of how the team over or under-achieved for the season.

Dorell Wright — Absolute: B- / Curve: A

The Warriors front office has been longing for Wright since he came into the NBA. After Wright had a particularly impressive game against the Warriors in late 2007, Chris Mullin couldn’t stop raving about him the next day at practice (including saying that the team had tried previously to acquire him, but been shot down by the Heat). Mullin may be long gone, but the Warriors finally got their man in 2010-11 — and he blew away fairly high expectations. Wright isn’t a dominant player, either on offense or defense, but he’s as good as you’ll find outside of the “take-over-the-game” category of NBA stars. He was deadly from behind the arc all season; he expanded the range of his offensive game as the year progressed, including some nice slashes to the basket; he’s not a lock-down one-on-one defender, but made the fewest mistakes of any of the Warriors’ starters (not saying much); he showed an ability to play the passing lanes and force others into turnovers without resorting to assignment-be-damned ball-hawking (like Ellis). Roll it all together and you have the Warriors’ most (only?) complete player. And they landed him for the price of a bench player.

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Wright is in the middle of the pack when it comes to NBA starting forwards (hence the B- grade), but because of his complete play is not someone the Warriors will look to replace with an upgrade anytime soon (as Lacob probably meant to indicate — but completely bungled — with his “Gerald Wallace isn’t the type of guy we need” comments at the trading deadline). Once the Warriors plug the massive holes in their front line and find some balance in their backcourt, they can worry about their small forward spot. Until then, they need to be looking for more Dorell Wrights — complete players on the rise, ready to break out with the opportunities the Warriors can offer.

Reggie Williams — Absolute: C- / Curve: C-

I wrote coming into the season that, given the frighteningly thin Warriors’ bench, Reggie Williams needed to be the linchpin holding the roster together as a utility back-up. The Warriors demonstrated from day one how badly they needed a consistent bench performer at the SG, SF and PG spots. Unfortunately for the team, Williams was unable to be that player. We still saw flashes of the smooth, confident scorer that burst onto the scene in the twilight of the Warriors’ D-League season. He scored in double figures for seven straight games in December (the Ws went 2-5), but he only had one other stretch scoring in double figures for three games or more in a row. And unlike the struggles faced by other Warriors, it’s hard to pin much of the blame on Keith Smart’s offense. Williams received relatively consistent minutes, had plenty of spot-up opportunities and no one else demanding the ball when he played with the offensively-challenged bench squad. Despite a seemingly ideal situation for him to thrive, his sophomore season was far more in line with what you’d expect from Williams given his undrafted status than what fans had hoped for after his rookie year.

The only consistent element of Williams’ game was his matador defense. More than any other player on the Warriors’ roster, opponents went at Williams, showing him zero respect. Williams’ one-dimensional nature doesn’t mean he can’t have a successful NBA career, but it likely dooms him to being a situational bench player — and one only worth having on the floor when his offense is flowing. Whoever ends up coaching the Warriors will need to figure out whether Williams can grow to become more than a seventh or eighth guy on the bench. There’s some chance his defense could improve with coaching, but he’s going to be limited by his relative lack of foot-speed. His best hope for a more consistent role probably hinges on the Warriors upgrading the other positions with better defenders (particularly the other guards), so more can be done to hide Williams when he’s on the court. But the bottom line for Williams is scorers need to score. Last season, he didn’t put the ball through the hoop with enough consistency.

Al Thornton — Absolute: C- / Curve: B-

The last addition to this season’s still-mismatched roster, the Warriors showed at least a recognition of one of their problems with the off-the-scrap-heap signing. The pre-Thornton Warriors had exactly zero big men capable of scoring with post-up moves in a half-court offense. After the signing, they still had zero big men to fill that offensive role — but they had one tweener up to the job. Thornton was cut from the Wizards’ roster in part due to his limited defense and erratic offense and in part due to plenty of bodies ahead of him on the depth chart. He was a low-risk/decent-reward option for the Warriors given the offensive success he had previously with the Clippers. The Thornton the Warriors got wasn’t as good as the one that started 67 games for LA in his sophomore season, but he was certainly worth his vet-minimum contract.

When focused, Thornton has the type of do-it-yourself, back-to-the-basket game the Warriors have lacked for years (decades?). The only problem is that game is trapped in the body of a 6-8 SF, not a 6-10 PF. And it’s also a game that appears only when Thornton doesn’t settle for 18 foot jumpers. Like Williams, Thornton is a scorer who is a net-plus on the court when his offense is flowing. Unlike Williams, Thornton has a decent argument that Keith Smart never gave him consistent minutes to establish his game fully. He also showed signs of progress — at least in terms of energy — on the defensive end as the season wound down. If the Warriors don’t add another low-post threat (likely) but bring in a coach that wants some offensive flexibility (also likely), Thornton should have a decent shot at playing a regular role on next year’s squad. He may bolt for a better team or better opportunity, but he played well enough at the end of the season to be in the mix for next year.

Vladimir Radmanovic — Absolute: D / Curve: C-

Expectations for Radmanovic coming into this season were Death Valley-low. Somehow, he found a way to slide below them. Outside of a few inexplicably clutch three pointers and one even-more-inexplicable, expletive-laced tired about practicing with focus and intensity, Vlad’s season was a total loss. His offense was inconsistent at best, he brought little toughness or defense to the PF spot (where he played most of his minutes) and his expiring contract didn’t materialize into someone capable of helping the team. If he’s back on this Warriors roster next season for anything above the veteran minimum, it’ll be a total disaster (and even at the vet min it’s hard to see what role he’d play).

Radmanovic’s biggest impact on the roster is as a reminder of the old mistakes that have the Warriors once again sitting out the NBA’s spring festivities. You never have Vlad on your team without a fire-sale deal to move an overpaid and unhappy Stephen Jackson; you never have an overpaid and unhappy Stephen Jackson without Robert Rowell’s meddling in front-office business. And you never have Robert Rowell meddling in front-office business without an owner more interested in being surrounded by those unquestionably dedicated to his cash-machine agenda than winning basketball games. Vlad likely will be gone next year, but Robert Rowell still remains. Joe Lacob has sworn up and down that Rowell doesn’t have basketball influence. But until Lacob starts making moves to differentiate himself from the losing ways of his predecessor, Rowell’s retention gives Warriors fans a valid reason to question whether the team cares about building a long-term winner over turning a short-term profit.

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Categorizing these four players as “wings” is an imperfect title. Wright fits the role — and thrived in it. The other three players are more accurately grouped as “not guards or bigs.” They’re players who lack the skills for their size or the size for their skills. It’s a frustrating mash-up Warriors fans know all too well. The hope for the Warriors lies with players like Wright, bringing complete games and both skills and size appropriate for their role. One down, fourteen more to go.

Adam Lauridsen

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The Bulls looked unbeatable. Beautifully coached, balanced, and way more athletic.
Even CJ looked good.

Tarheel Warrior

Otis,

IMP, Udoh >>> Robin Lopez. If you meant Brook, we want that deal…but NJ not so.

Tarheel Warrior

Very entertaining games today. Nice to see the ball move when Rose and Westbrook tame their game and get others involved.

Impressive performances by Deng and Taj Gibson. Luol did a great job on LBJ and Taj showed great athleticism. Mimai looked weak.

In the other game, Harden and Collison also had wonderful games. Collison kept Z-Bo under control and Harden did some great work on both ends.

Amazing how Thibodeau uses his bench and how well they play for him. They know that if they play well, they stay on the court. E.G. Boozer 26 mins., Gibson 23 mins. Also, Bogans 15 mins., Korver 17 mins. and Brewer 19 mins. And where did Asik come from? Played well when subbing for Noah. He was a 2nd. round pick. Of course, per Riley, they aren’t worth a fart.

well, the lottery’s not too far away. on reflection, I want the warriors to get the number one pick.

Tarheel Warrior

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with trying to rape a New York hotel maid,

Now IMF stands for “I’m a Maid F***er?

monsta

TW
Dead horse #1,278 is that the Warriors had the 34th pick in the 2010 draft and traded it for cash.

Received the #44 pick and either $1 or $2 million, depending on which report you believe.

They sent that 44th pick to Milwaukee in the Corey Maggette deal, and the Warriors landed world-beaters Danny ‘the Dinosaur’ Gadzuric and Charlie ‘Horri-’ Bell. Woo hoo!

Different year, but Asik was pick #36, just behind DeAndre Jordan at #35.

After them, Mbah a Moute, Sonny Weems, Goran Dragic. Again, different year, but they give an idea of some players available in the 34-44 range.

monsta

I
M
Freeky

monsta

Heat would beat the Bulls if the Big 3 had any help at all.

But Chalmers, Bibby, MMiller, they’re just bad. Joel Anthony was never a scoring threat, but played the whole game and got 6 boards. That’s Biedrins-like.

So it’s 5 on 3. I think it takes it out of players to work work work for every single shot, to play 5 on 3 basketball, and I’ll betcha James and Bosh and maybe even Wade are physically and mentally beat up by game 5 or 6. They’ll be worn out.

I say they trade games till it’s 2-2, then the Bulls take 2 in a row.

I yi yiyi yi

OKC V Bulls with da Bulls on top now that would be a different ( though I’d loved to see OKC win it all), but somehow I’m starting to think that it maybe is a Dallas year, I know, ….don’t count out Miami but I just don’t like the way that team came together. Anyway we have started to see the change at the top and I for one welcome a final without Kobe or Ray Allen. (*Not really a hater but I just didn’t like the disrespect from them) and as much as I like Pop , glad SA is out tooi

I yi yiyi yi

OKC V Bulls with da Bulls on top now that would be a different ( though I’d loved to see OKC win it all), but somehow I’m starting to think that it maybe is a Dallas year, I know, ….don’t count out Miami but I just don’t like the way that team came together. Anyway we have started to see the change at the top and I for one welcome a final without Kobe or Ray Allen. (*Not really a hater but I just didn’t like the disrespect from them) and as much as I like Pop , glad SA is out too

I yi yiyi yi

Sorry for the double post

bryhsiao

Monsta, yeah I agree with you that heats big 3 will be spent because all they got are 1on1 + pick&roll with rest of the 2 bigshots.

But the important thing is they deservedly made this so.
They sign big big contracts so that they can only have crap bench players.
And it will stay that way until other bigshot players swallow their prides to join them.

I really do not see it coming anytime soon.

Tarheel,
Asik is a sec round pick I believe came from Warriors if I remember right.

Asik –> Big man we could definitely use. He can shoot FTs too.

Taj Gibson. OMG, his one dunk over Wade and a follow up were just out of this world. His moves and offensive rebs and jumpers were great too.
He is on a contract worth 1.1M for another 2 years. His D is also very good.

Taj Gibson >>>>> David Lee.

Bulls vs Dallas/Thunder –> let it begin!

I was hoping a Bulls vs Memphis (two tough D teams and should be fun to watch. but Durant was just too good and Westbrook finally swallowed his pride in the 7th game)

Now we can take Taj Gibson off our trade list. Whoever on Bulls’ team will be pretty much unattainable.

Also no one in his sane mind will trade Harden, or Deng for Monta Ellis now.
Playoff tested and play both ends >>> Monta.

I do not think they would trade for Curry either, nor should we.

Man watching them play really makes me feel upset about Warriors.

Yeah “Coaches don’t make a difference”

bryhsiao

man, my long post got swallowed by this blog again. sigh…

oh, Rose had 5 floaters today and 4 went in beautifully.
I guess by the village idixot’s professional standard, the league’s mvp is a chickenshiext. He should focus on getting fouled instead of focusing on finishing the floater and making the basket.

Also Mvp must be a horrible PG with 6ast/4to game. Not even over 2 omg he is horrible.

Sigh, some people really need to stick with reading the boxscore instead of watching games.

* Monta Ellis, Warriors. Ellis was looking halfway decent on the defensive peripherals at mid-season, with his usual two or three markedly good D efforts per month tossed in… then everything spun back down to his usual poor stat-pack.

(His offense, however, was very good all year, if you are prepared to discount his turnovers and all those missed shots. I don’t always.)

Now, as I’ve said repeatedly, I blame much of the defensive retrograde on Ellis playing out of position on defense–with Stephen Curry alongside, Ellis has to defend the 2-guard, which Ellis doesn’t always love to do.

He is not physically able to go up for long minutes against big wings and often just gives up early on when things go awry in the match-up (go back and check the tape on Ellis vs. Grant Hill in the Phoenix games).

But bad is bad, unfocused is unfocused, and there’s no doubt Ellis could just as likely be giving up big numbers if he was defending the PG regularly, too.

The fact of the matter is that the Warriors were at their worst defensively this season when Ellis was on the floor–they gave up 6.4 points more per 100 possessions with Ellis playing, worse than with David Lee, much worse than with Stephen Curry.

Last snapshot: Like Stoudemire, Ellis’ offensive talents are prodigious, but he ended up as a -232 in the plus/minus, worse than any Warrior except Biedrins (-234).

Curry was -15 on the season. The Warriors were slightly worse defensively when Curry was on the floor than when he was out. They were much worse defensively when Ellis played.